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State v. Norman

Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1989

324 N.C. 253, 378 S.E.2d 8

Audio opinion coming soon

Brief Fact Summary

A wife killed her husband by shooting him three times in the back of the head while he was sleeping. The husband had beaten and degraded the wife for more than twenty years. The question is whether the wife can assert she acted out of self-defense due to battered woman's syndrome.

Rule of Law and Holding

The court held that the wife could not assert self-defense because she lacked the belief that she was under a threat of imminent death or great bodily harm.